Riding the Raisina Tiger

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Defence Minister
Manohar Parrikar and his US counterpart Ashton Carter are all set to announce
the next stage of Indo-US military ties even as India will be keen to project
that its “not to close” to the US and balance out ties with China, its
neighbour and Russia, its oldest military ally.

Parrikar and Carter
are to meet tomorrow for formal round of talks in New Delhi and are scheduled
to address a joint press conference.

Carter arrived in
Goa on April 10 and has had meetings with Parrikar. Today the visiting US
dignitary was welcomed on board India’s sea-borne aircraft carrier, the INS
Vikramaditya, docked at Karwar Naval base located South of Goa.

In his remarks in
Goa, Carter said it was critically important for the US and India to expand
their military relationship, including greater cooperation on high-tech
projects and ship and fighter jet development.

In the run-up to the
Parrikar-Carter meeting, Indian officials had told their US counterparts that
they would want Washington to stand guarantee for transfer of technology (ToT)
if any US-based companies are to bid under the _‘Make in India’ plan for the
fighter jet programme.

US companies Boeing
and Lockheed Martin have submitted proposals for ‘Make in India’ fighter jets.
New Delhi is looking for additional fighter jets once it signs the Rafale deal
with Dassualt Aviation of France.

Before embarking on
his trip Carter, while speaking in New York had assured New Delhi that
technology transfer issues in case of co-production were “surmountable”.

Tomorrow Parrikar-Carter
will discuss the further movement in Defence Technology and Trade Initiative
(DTTI). Parrikar is keen that DTTI talks be held with the possibility to ensure
that centre’s flagship initiative ‘Make in India’ is made an integral part of
it.

The Indian Air Force
(IAF), which is currently battling its lowest strength of fighter jets in a
decade, today started its bi-annual “commanders conference” to enhance its
operational capability.

The five-day
conference will be discussing various means and methods to improve operational
capability, including the induction of new fighter jets. Minister of State for
Defence Rao Inderjit Singh inaugurated the conference this morning.

IAF Chief Marshal
Arup Raha updated the minister on operational status of the IAF, security
measures in vogue and the progress on infrastructure development, including
upgrade of airfields.

The IAF showed how
it has increased the aircraft serviceability and the corresponding increase in
flying tasks of the IAF.

The IAF chief explained
the focus areas and the future roadmap. Defence Secretary Mohan Kumar and
Secretary (Defence Production) AK Gupta were also present at the meeting.

During this
conference, senior leadership of the IAF would deliberate on issues pertaining
to air operations, maintenance, human resources and administration. Aspects of
support provided by the Defence public sector undertakings through indigenised
production of prime equipment would also be discussed in a daylong session on
April 13.

The IAF will be discussing
the light combat aircraft, the Tejas, with high-level delegation from Hindustan
Aeronautics Limited.

The brutal gang rape
and killing of Jyoti Singh in Dehli in 2012 propelled India into international
headlines and sparked nationwide protests. The barbarity of the act outraged
millions. But four years on, numerous shocking incidents of rapes in India
continue to horrify the world. Delhi has earned the dishonourable title of
“rape capital”, and there is still no let-up: the number of rapes committed in
the city is increasing, according to national crime records.

In two separate
recent incidents, girls as young as two and five years old were raped in Delhi.
And in another horrifying episode in Uttar Pradesh in March 2016 a mother was
gang raped in front of her three-year-old, and her two-week-old infant killed.

According to the
National Crime Records Bureau, an average of 92 women are raped in India every
day. A survey compiled by the Thomson Reuters Foundation lists the Democratic
Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Somalia as the five worst
states for women’s rights in descending order.

As an Indian I say this with deep sadness,
that our society is marked by patriarchy and misogyny

Inequality and
violence against women and girls starts before birth. India’s minister of women
and child welfare, Maneka Gandhi, says: “Every day around 2,000 girls are
killed in the womb or immediately after birth in India.” The violence and
inequality continues with 40% of the world’s child marriages happening in
India.

As an Indian I say
this with deep sadness, that our society is marked by patriarchy, misogyny and
treatment of its women and girls as second-class citizens. Successive national
and state governments, the judiciary and civil society have tried but are
unable to safeguard women and girls.

The entire police
force in India is in dire need of radical reform, and has to be sensitised to
the rights of women and children. It needs far more women in its rank and file
as well as equality in senior leadership positions. But how can we help to fill
the massive vacuum left by our police?

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bicycles are changing what it means to be a girl in India

Rachita Vora in
Mumbai

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I believe that we
should look to the veterans of India’s armed services. With 1.3 million active
duty personnel and 2.1 million in reserve, it is one of the largest militaries
in the world. These women and men are educated, disciplined, skilled and
respect a chain of command.

The Indian armed
forces are not immune to incidents of sexual violence. There have been reports
of sexual violence against women from the security forces in Kashmir, for
example. However, when Indian army chief, General Dalbir Singh Suhag, met the
UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, last week in New York, he emphasised the
army’s zero tolerance for any form of abuse or exploitation against women and
girls.

As an ex-serviceman
myself, I know that respect for women is an ingrained part of the military code
of conduct and is a value instilled when one joins the military academy and
reinforced at the unit. A deep sense of regimental loyalty and ethos, as well
as the image of the unit, acts as an incentive for good behaviour, combined
with the terrifying prospect of strict disciplinary measures for misbehaviour.

The tragedy of sexual and gender-based
violence in India needs to be viewed as a national security issue

There are
innumerable problems today in India that ex-service personnel could tackle. The
tragedy of sexual and gender-based violence in India has reached epidemic
proportions and needs to be viewed as a national security issue. Therefore, I
propose that where ex-military strengths are needed the most are in protecting
the rights and safety of all girls and women.

Can military veterans
unite for a cause and see it through to the end? Former military personnel
recently ran the One Rank, One Pension campaign, demanding a significant change
to the current pension scheme for ex-service men and women. By coming together,
they successfully raised the consciousness of the entire nation to their plight
and also put pressure on policymakers and politicians to remedy the situation.

The Indian armed
forces instil powerful leadership skills in their ranks that don’t vanish on
retirement, combined with a deep sense of honour and discipline. Moreover,
veterans who have retired often still feel a sense of purpose and service that
can be channelled into upholding the rights of women and girls. This then
serves a dual purpose – that of furthering human rights and equality in India
and that of providing ex-service personnel a sense of community and usefulness.

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“India’s military veterans are a
great asset and can be helpful in assisting law enforcement agencies at a
community level in raising awareness on the rights, inclusion, dignity and
respect for women,” says retired Lt Gen Amarjeet Singh Kalkat. “These
ex-service women and men can be found in every village of India and can serve
as role models in their communities.”

They can add value by becoming
champions by speaking up at the community level for the rights of women and
girls, supporting and assisting local authorities in a massive advocacy
campaign throughout India on gender equality and human rights. This can be
easily taken to scale, from house to house and community to community.

They could also become part of
an information network that keeps an eye on episodes of violence against women
and girls and ensures law enforcement is kept appraised. And as people highly
regarded in their respective communities, they can play an important role in
preventing sexual and gender-based violence. Every ex-service person gets a
pension. Financial remuneration is not an issue. It is to tap into their deep
sense of “service before self”.

All evidence points to the fact
that India’s future is dependent on its youth and its women. Empowering,
educating and employing India’s women is critical for India’s economic
progress. The ex-service personnel are a formidable “soft power” that can
uphold the human rights of India’s women and girls and ensure their future,
thus ensuring our own.

BALASORE: Indian
army on Monday successfully conducted a user trial of medium range supersonic
Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) Akash from a defence base off the Odisha coast.
The missile was fired targeting a pilot-less target aircraft (PTA).

The test was
conducted days after the army declared the weapon system a ‘dud’ and expressed
its reluctance to accept the missile. After getting two regiments of Akash
missiles with six firing batteries worth over Rs 15,000 crore, the army had
claimed that the missile could not provide desired results on field.

The Defence Research
and Development Organisation (DRDO), which had developed the missile
indigenously, seemed to be undeterred over the sudden change of mind of the
army which is now planning to procure Israeli systems. According to the DRDO
officials at Hyderabad, Akash missile is the only missile of its kind now
available in the world.

Besides providing
the army and air force for the battle field support, DRDO is all set to export
the weapon system to the countries which have shown interest on it. “It is a
useful weapon for both the army and air force and first successful model of the
‘Make-in-India’ initiative. The armed forces are scheduled to carry out a
couple of more tests in next few days,” they informed.

The missile was
launched from the launching complex-III of the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at
Chandipur-on-sea at about 12.35 pm. The test was aimed at gauging the flight
consistency and effectiveness of the missile besides ascertaining the
serviceability of the system in various conditions.

A defence official
from New Delhi said the mission boosted the air defence shield of the country
and re-validated the weapon’s operational efficiency. The missile was aimed at
intercepting the aerial vehicle 'Banshee' at a definite altitude over the Bay
of Bengal. The entire flight of Akash was captured by electro-optical tracking
systems, he informed.

Akash is a
medium-range surface-to-air missile and it can reach targets 30 km away. The
5.8-metre-long sleek missile has a launch weight of 720 kg and can carry a
warhead of 50 kg. The missile is crucial to India's air defence programme as it
will be used to counter ballistic and cruise missiles, enemy aircrafts and
air-to-surface missiles.

The Akash missile
system which is similar to the American Patriot air-to-surface missile system
can track 64 targets simultaneously and the inbuilt radar can provide command
to the launcher to fire 12 missiles at a time. The development of Akash missile
had taken place under the country’s Integrated Guided Missile Development
Programme (IGMDP) three decades ago. Akash was formally inducted in the Army on
May 5 and in the Air Force on July 10 last year.

If the United States
could flip a switch and make the Indian military more powerful than it is
today, it would have every interest in doing so. The US has other interests as
well, such as maintaining its military edge and ensuring that its “crown jewel”
defence technology doesn’t find its way into the hands of adversaries like
Russia. But for the foreseeable future, the US has interest in a stronger
Indian military. This was not always true. Indeed, this was not the case about
20 years ago. The most significant difference between now and then is the
growing capability and assertiveness of the Chinese military. Now, it is very
important to be very clear about the very big difference between an interest in
a stronger Indian military and an interest in an Indian military that is in
conflict with China. America has no interest in the latter. In public,
Americans often skirt around the topic of China in discussions of the US-Indian
defence partnership. There are a number of good reasons for this, including the
fact that this partnership is important for a range of reasons that have
nothing to do with China. But one reason that mention of China is avoided is
because of concern that public discussion will feed into a false perception
that the US is trying to push India into a conflict with China. Unfortunately,
ambiguity seems to have fed the Indian public’s anxiety.

So it is important
to highlight the widespread consensus among thought leaders in Washington DC
that no one seeks a military conflict with China. And we don’t want to see
India in a conflict either. In fact, this is precisely the reason why a
stronger Indian military is in America’s interest. Relative military weakness
is provocative. The trajectory of China’s growing military capabilities
threatens to widen the gap between China’s military capabilities and those of
India. This is the kind of gap that increases the chance of conflict. And the
US and India have an undeniable common interest in trying to prevent it from
growing further.

Unfortunately, this
common interest is often overshadowed and, instead, there is focus on the
“foundational defence agreements”. As someone who worked on these issues while
serving in the US government, it’s difficult to understand why this is the case
because as Pratap Bhanu Mehta recently noted in this newspaper, these are
“prosaic agreements” (‘The American hug’, April 2). They are basic arrangements
that facilitate rather than compel military-to-military cooperation and
certainly do not “prematurely foreclose” India’s options. They are a far cry
from anything approaching a treaty or alliance, which suggests they are widely
misunderstood or being criticised for political purposes. I hope that they are
signed because they do help facilitate military cooperation, but they will not
lead to some kind of military alliance.

Yet, Mehta raises an
important topic in his article that warrants a substantive response. He
suggests that signing these agreements portends “momentous shifts” in Indian
foreign policy and positions India as a “frontline state” on a faultline
between the US and China. With all due respect to Mehta, whose scholarship is
quite impressive, this is an anachronistic assessment. Today, India is a global
power. Even if the US sought to push India into becoming a “frontline state”,
America does not and will not have the power to do so. It bears repeating that
conflict between India and China isn’t in America’s interest, but even if it
was, neither the “foundational agreements” nor anything else can compel India
to take actions vis-a-vis China that aren’t in India’s national interest.

Indians should be
more confident in the independence of their own government. The Indian
government is fully capable of bolstering its defence relationship with the US
while maintaining its complete sovereignty. India is a strong country, and the
great irony in this debate is that it’s in America’s interest to see it become
even stronger.

If the United States
could flip a switch and make the Indian military more powerful than it is
today, it would have every interest in doing so. The US has other interests as
well, such as maintaining its military edge and ensuring that its “crown jewel”
defence technology doesn’t find its way into the hands of adversaries like
Russia. But for the foreseeable future, the US has interest in a stronger
Indian military. This was not always true. Indeed, this was not the case about
20 years ago. The most significant difference between now and then is the
growing capability and assertiveness of the Chinese military. Now, it is very
important to be very clear about the very big difference between an interest in
a stronger Indian military and an interest in an Indian military that is in
conflict with China. America has no interest in the latter. In public,
Americans often skirt around the topic of China in discussions of the US-Indian
defence partnership. There are a number of good reasons for this, including the
fact that this partnership is important for a range of reasons that have
nothing to do with China. But one reason that mention of China is avoided is
because of concern that public discussion will feed into a false perception
that the US is trying to push India into a conflict with China. Unfortunately,
ambiguity seems to have fed the Indian public’s anxiety.

So it is important
to highlight the widespread consensus among thought leaders in Washington DC
that no one seeks a military conflict with China. And we don’t want to see
India in a conflict either. In fact, this is precisely the reason why a
stronger Indian military is in America’s interest. Relative military weakness
is provocative. The trajectory of China’s growing military capabilities
threatens to widen the gap between China’s military capabilities and those of
India. This is the kind of gap that increases the chance of conflict. And the
US and India have an undeniable common interest in trying to prevent it from
growing further.

Unfortunately, this
common interest is often overshadowed and, instead, there is focus on the
“foundational defence agreements”. As someone who worked on these issues while
serving in the US government, it’s difficult to understand why this is the case
because as Pratap Bhanu Mehta recently noted in this newspaper, these are
“prosaic agreements” (‘The American hug’, April 2). They are basic arrangements
that facilitate rather than compel military-to-military cooperation and
certainly do not “prematurely foreclose” India’s options. They are a far cry
from anything approaching a treaty or alliance, which suggests they are widely
misunderstood or being criticised for political purposes. I hope that they are
signed because they do help facilitate military cooperation, but they will not
lead to some kind of military alliance.

Yet, Mehta raises an
important topic in his article that warrants a substantive response. He
suggests that signing these agreements portends “momentous shifts” in Indian
foreign policy and positions India as a “frontline state” on a faultline between
the US and China. With all due respect to Mehta, whose scholarship is quite
impressive, this is an anachronistic assessment. Today, India is a global
power. Even if the US sought to push India into becoming a “frontline state”,
America does not and will not have the power to do so. It bears repeating that
conflict between India and China isn’t in America’s interest, but even if it
was, neither the “foundational agreements” nor anything else can compel India
to take actions vis-a-vis China that aren’t in India’s national interest.

Indians should be
more confident in the independence of their own government. The Indian
government is fully capable of bolstering its defence relationship with the US
while maintaining its complete sovereignty. India is a strong country, and the
great irony in this debate is that it’s in America’s interest to see it become
even stronger.